burning need for change
for the past three years some friends of ours have put on this super awesome disco camping event known as Priceless (as in, there are some things money can’t buy…), and this year it is scheduled for next weekend: the 4th of July. however, there are some pretty serious wildfires raging in the canyon in which the event takes place, and so it’s quite possible our event might be cancelled. or moved, if we’re lucky enough to find another spot that can accomodate several hundred people and a lot of music and activity for a few days.
while that sucks (a LOT), what sucks more is that there are currently more than 1,000 wildfires burning in california. an extremely dry spring and hot weather (hello, global warming!) have created a dangerous fire season. in general, wildfires are perfectly natural and one of nature’s way of restoring balance to ecosystems, but that doesn’t account for human presence, and there are so many communities being torn apart right now. the little town where we hold our event only has about 10 residents, and they have not (yet) been evacuated, but i’m sure it’s stressful knowing that any minute they could be told to leave.
i hope not only for the sake of the party but for the sake of all the residents of plumas county that these fires are contained and that no more start. i also hope that all these floods, fires, and other natural disasters that seem to be increasing year by year get the people who still have their heads in their asses about climate change to pull them out and pull together with those willing to invest now to start preparing for the effects for global warming. while we should be still be doing whatever we can to slow it down, and honestly whether or not it is even a human-caused problem, the human reality is that we need to start preparing for the fact that climate change is already upon us – that means investing in levee protection (as residents of the mississippi river and its tributaries have learned), fire protection, preparing for food and water shortages (which are already happening worldwide), and buffering against extreme weather patterns.
politicians who still consider this an ideological issue and waste time combating science and blocking important legislation using childish, wasteful tactics deserve to all be removed from office. congresspersons and senators who continue to hold hands with coal and oil industries (among others) instead of finding ways to inspire their constituencies to take progressive action aren’t doing the victims of these natural disasters any favors. hopefully the residents living in states that have been hit hard will this take into account come election day in november, and vote for representatives who will DO something about climate change, not those who will continue to stall legislation, forecast theoretical negative economic effects as a result of converting to green energy (instead of all the positive economic possibilities), continue to support (and be supported by) polluting industries and technologies and complain about tax increases and funding for things that will save lives. like i said, even if climate change isn’t something we either caused or can stop, it’s something that’s measurably happening and we need leaders who will do something about it.
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